Back in the hotel I telephoned Dad and told him I was okay and would be back at the weekend. I did some of my physiotherapy exercises for half an hour, descended to the elegant dining room where I enjoyed a fillet of sole starter, followed by a simply wonderful fillet steak served with baby vegetables. Despite doctor’s orders, I accompanied it with a couple of glasses of illicit red wine. It was a delicious meal, but I was still having trouble swallowing unless I cut things up very small. I was going to have to adapt. When I laid my head on the pillow, I was out like a light and slept through until my watch woke me at seven.
Refreshed, I struggled to shower. This over-bath shower was no good for me. Climbing in and out of a bath was not only extremely difficult and treacherous in my condition, but painful too. Most hotels had already switched to walk-in showers, but the Mullion Cove Hotel was in the grand twentieth-century tradition of luxury hotels and was very much of its time, an experience all its own.
I must check the rented properties to find out what sort of bath facilities they had. I was no longer able-bodied. Who knew how long my leg might take to heal, if ever? To add insult to injury, the steak, chips and wine had upset my tummy. My digestive system was not used to solids. I’d been warned.
My Jaguar was ready for me at eight thirty. It arrived from the hotel car park and was awaiting me at the front door. I set off to Goonhilly.
Marjorie saw my car arrive at the building and she rushed out to hold the main doors open for me and carry my briefcase. She helped me through into the government section of the offices until Janet took over as I entered my office suite. I was so weak and helpless. The sleep and shower might have refreshed me, but I was now aching from head to foot from the effects of moving about so much. Muscles were trying to perform unfamiliar tasks and I was even more tired than I’d been when I left the previous evening.
My monitor had several red-flash messages. The first was my lawyer so I put it on snooze. The second was Yuri confirming receipt of my last message. The third was from Reg in the cluster.
‘Give me a call, Eve, as soon as you get in,’ was all he said.
I buzzed Janet and asked her to get Dr Naughton while I opened the message from my lawyer.
A date had been set for the trial of Wayne Terret, the gunman who had caused all my injuries and deprived me of my fiancé. The lawyer was preparing me for having to give evidence and to provide a victim statement. He hoped Terret would plead guilty.
I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this man across a court room. He deserved to be locked away forever for acting upon his insane beliefs. Given those beliefs, I was doubtful he’d plead guilty. My lawyer was probably trying to throw a positive slant on the situation.
My monitor came to life and Reg was smiling at me from the inside of the cluster. ‘Hi, Eve. Lovely to see you. Hope you’re feeling better.’
‘Not really, Reg, but thanks anyway. Being in a coma is worse than the muscle wastage you get while on the ISS. How’re things with you?’
‘Great. We’ve now got a gravity module on the Cluster. Achieving one g makes it seem a bit like a hamster wheel, but at least it keeps us fit from an hour or so exercising per day instead of the old three-hour regime with the machines.’
‘The wonderfuel has had a major effect on what can be launched. But what about the Coriolis effect?’ I asked.
‘It’s amazing how adaptable the human body is, so not a serious problem. You get used to it and we won’t be playing ball games. The fuel means we can even get in and out of orbit with less trouble, Eve. The fuel allows us to drop out of orbit without the use of such heavy and thick heat shields. When you’re up to it, you must come up and visit.’
‘Oh, I’d dearly love to visit the Cluster again.’
‘If AD2 is coming here, why not be here when it arrives?’
‘Don’t think I’d be well enough, Reg.’
‘Blast off isn’t as taxing anymore. It’s not much more stressful on the body than a ride on a budget airliner.’
‘Seriously? Sorry, I still haven’t caught up with all the advances which’ve been made while I was out of circulation.’
‘Yes, seriously, Eve. Check with your doctor but coming up here shouldn’t be much more of a problem than air travel.’
‘I will. Thanks for the information, Reg. Now why’re you calling? I assume it wasn’t only to invite me to eat ESA processed food.’
‘Ha, even the food is better, Eve. You must come if you can. Anyway, I was calling because we are planning to unscrew the golden rod from AD1 at eleven this morning GMT.’
‘Right, what precautions?’
‘You might not be aware, Eve, but the entire Cluster is now running on normal air. This means we only need to use the airlocks for isolation. We can watch AD1 from the laboratory as you know, and we’ve a robot to unscrew the rod. We intend to watch from the laboratory in pressure suits in case something goes dangerously awry.’
‘Sounds a sensible precaution.’
‘We’ll be doing it on a live feed to ESA, NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, CSA, and yourselves.’
‘Okay, Reg, I’ll be sure to watch. How are the decompression wounds? Are you back to normal?’
‘Almost. My eyes ache occasionally and my hand, but it’s no more than annoying.’
‘Glad to hear you’re improving. Speak later.’
‘Bye, Eve.’
I telephoned my lawyer and told him to keep me appraised of when I’d be needed for the trial. Again, anxiety hit me as I thought about Terret murdering my Mario, and tears welled up.
I was saved from bawling by Janet delivering me a lovely mug of tea.
‘Those bungalows have over-bath showers, Janet. I found out this morning they’re not ideal with my leg. Can you check whether anyone has one with a walk-in shower or if I might be able to pay for having one installed. I’ll probably need a long let. Sorry to mess you around.’
‘No problem, Doctor Slater. Put anything you like on me while you’re recovering.’
‘Thanks, Janet.’
Come eleven, Tim arrived, and we tuned in to the live video from the Cluster. There were four feeds on the main screen. One showed the front of AD1 face on. The robot was attached firmly to the ceiling from our perspective and comprised a thick, jointed arm which sprouted two spindly sub-arms. The other screens showed a variety of views from different sides.
I logged-in so Reg knew we were on line. CSA and ESA were listed above us in the corner of the monitor and JAXA, NASA, and Roscosmos beneath, showing all six of us were logged in.
‘Good morning, everyone,’ said Reg. ‘We’re about to attempt to unscrew the golden rod from the front of AD1 as proposed by the video AD2 provided on Mars One.’
The robot arm projected a smaller arm, and this took hold of the rod about five or six inches from where it emerged from the craft.
‘Rotating clockwise now with low torque,’ commented Reg.
Screen three zoomed in on the point where the rod met the craft. Slivers of sticky paper on the rod would give a clear indication of any rotation. They didn’t move.
‘Increasing torque to two of ten.’
Still there was no sign of movement.
It was only on torque six that the papers moved a quarter rotation and the robot stopped its motion.
‘Reducing torque and unscrewing slowly.’
Camera three showed an extreme close-up of the end of the rod as it gradually unscrewed in the unfamiliar clockwise motion.
Soon the thread of the rod came into sight. In fact, the rod was hollow, and the thread was attached to the craft, so it wasn’t a reversed thread after all. Suddenly there was clear air between the rod and the craft. It had been detached. Camera three zoomed out again and we all watched intently. I was particularly interested in the silver, thimble-like structures which, in the AD2 animation, appeared to do something. The animation clearly wanted us to do this, but what was it supposed to trigger?
Minutes passed. No sign of anything happening at all. Perhaps AD1 was so damaged its systems were unable to respond. We had, of course removed all of the memory cylinders from inside the device. If they contained computer programs which were meant to be called into action, they’d no longer be activated.
‘We can’t see anything taking place, and there’s no sound being produced, or anything being broadcast,’ announced Reg.
‘Close-up of the blunt end of the thread please, Reg,’ I asked.
The camera zoomed in. A delicate gold filament protruded from the top.
‘What am I seeing? Is it a wire?’ I asked.
The camera closed in even further. There was clearly a filament leading from the top of the thread. It was broken.
‘I wonder if its breaking was supposed to trigger something,’ I mused.
‘Possibly,’ said Reg.
‘I think we’ve stripped so much out of it that we were hoping for too much to expect it to still be able to react,’ said Brad at NASA.
‘Yes, I’m sure you are right, Brad. We’ll keep the cameras on it,’ said Reg with some disappointment in his voice.
‘Reg,’ I said, ‘can you please examine the thimble-like structures. They’re obviously important to its function and it’d be good to know what they contain before Yuri arrives with AD2. Also, should AD2 be examined in the Cluster initially? While we’re on the conference call, what do the rest of you think?’
‘Fine by me,’ Brad said.
‘I’m for that,’ agreed Gerald, 'but I'll have to put it to the boss. Should think he'll agree though.'
‘Roscosmos?’
‘Да.’
‘Reg?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I concur, but I’d like additional security in case it does something which might harm us.’
‘I don’t think it has any intention to harm,’ said Brad.
‘No,’ I agreed, ‘but it might harm unintentionally. We need to consider the possibility. When will AD2 arrive?’
‘Four weeks,’ said Brad.
‘Well, we’ve time to think this through,’ I said.
There was general consensus and the call ended, although I left the live feed on my monitor in case there was a delayed reaction.
I buzzed Janet, requested more tea, and asked her to get Gerald for me, person to person.
‘Hi, Eve, lovely to see you back in action. What can I do for you?’ he asked as his smiling face came on in the corner of my monitor.
‘Thanks, Gerald, I want to be in the Cluster when AD2 arrives. Who do I have to bribe for a ticket?’
‘Are you well enough?’
‘I’ve been told it’s not so stressful with the new orbital launchers.’
‘Yes, but what about your wounds? Reduced pressure in orbit would not be good for open wounds.’
‘Most have healed. I’ll get clearance from my consultant, but I want to be there.’
‘Okay, Eve, I’ll look into it. Why not talk to your PM? I would’ve thought ESA would be reluctant to let you fly without government pressure.’
‘Yes. Good point. I’ll try to enlist his support.’